Saturday, October 12, 2013

Saturday evening, we prepared and served a French dinner for
six at our home. The dinner was the “prize” won by a couple at the Tri-County
Office on Aging’s Meals on Wheels live auction last fall.

Ellen is very involved with Meals on Wheels (MOW). She
delivers meals and she serves on the MOW fundraising board. For the past two
years, we have offered a French dinner and a week at our apartment in Vaison la
Romaine. Luckily for MOW, the items have been popular and we have been able to
generate more funds for MOW. Since retiring, I have taken over most of the
cooking and have learned a lot. The dinner was a chance to share what I have
learned in the kitchen – both here and in France.

The couple that won the bid for the dinner knew what to
expect. They had won the bid the previous year and had enjoyed the evening
enough to make sure that they won the bid again.

We invited Steve and Re’Shane to come to an “apéro” to plan the menu. I had prepared a
list of options for each course and had included several items directly from
the menu at La Lyriste in Vaison la Romaine. (Chef Benoit had asked me
to translate the menu into English.) They chose the menu including a dish for
the main course that I had never prepared before. A quick “m’aidez” note to
Benoit to get instructions on how to prepare the dish followed. Benoit wrote
back and included detailed instructions and photos.

After all of the dishes were served, Ellen and I
joined the six diners and got to experience how much fun they were and how much
fun they were having. They were six people who enjoyed good food, good wine and
good camaraderie – and that menu of fun, food and camaraderie, served for a
good cause, could be a winner every time!